Amadeus FiRe AG (AAD) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Okay, let's start. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, for the conference call regarding the publication of our interim statement Q1 2026 of Amadeus FiRe Group. Robert Von Wulfing, our CEO, will give you some insights into the business development in the first quarter this year and will be available for a Q&A session afterwards and will be at your disposal. So Robert, the stage is yours.

Well, thanks, Jorg. Good morning, everybody. So next round, Q1 figures, Amadeus FiRe. So first glance, we can take in new fiscal year 2026. And overall, I would say we saw a quarter where business, from our point of view, was in line with our expectations and in comparison to last quarter Q4 2025 stabilized. So we saw some positive signs in the continuation of the quarters, Q1 to -- comparison to Q4. In comparison to Q1 last year, in some key figures, we still see a decline because of the development over the course of the year last year with a declining trend. So for us, a good start in '26. And overall, my picture for the next year, also next years, remains unchanged. Skills and qualifications will be needed. Scarcity is still existing. And the change we will see will accelerate. So overall, our positioning, doing both services, staffing and training around certain skills should pay off. So for this year, our commitment is to take step-by-step back to profitability and to regain the position for the strengths we saw within this Amadeus FiRe Group for many years. Some market remarks. So the overall situation in Germany, well, was a weak one in Q1 '26, again, and not surprisingly, as expected. So GDP growth was around 0, give and take, and some cautious positive indicators we saw in January and February, in the end, after the war in the Middle East started -- fell back. So some glimmer of improvement actually was taken out by this geopolitical development. And for example, the ifo Business Climate Index fell the last 2 months, March and April, to a level of 84.4 points in April '26 again, which is a low level and indicates that currently the situation in Germany within corporate clients still is not a positive one. Unemployment is ongoing high at a rate of 6.4% in April this year, so more than 3 million people in Germany unemployed. So some highlights on -- just one second, switch page. Some highlights on Q1. So as I said, for us, a quite acceptable start in this fiscal year in a tight B2B service market in Germany. In training, we also do have the B2C and the B2G market, which were more positive and starting with a positive trend in '26. We have put in, in '25 and ongoing in '26, a lot of cost measures and structural optimizations. So they are paying off and showing their effects in the operational performance. So more looking at the top line, stabilizing over the course of this quarter. So some key figures improved quarter-on-quarter, like revenues and gross profit and also some earnings. So we see here a picture of what we wanted to see for the first quarter to deliver what we forecasted for the full year. So in a year-on-year comparison, we are still 9% down in revenues. In a quarter-on-quarter comparison, we are 3.5% up. Margin is slightly declining, operating gross margin, but well, on a high level and also is exceeding prior quarters' level. And the operating result is EUR 3 million for the quarter, in line with our expectations as well as the -- for the first quarter, negative earnings per share, EUR 0.16. Last year, we saw EUR 0.18 positive. Last year, that turned negative at the end of the year. This year, we see the picture the other way around to deliver earnings per share positively at the end of the year. Some remarks on the business development in Q1. So as forecasted, the B2B markets, as I said, remained tight, more positive in B2C and B2G training. So the demand was cautious over the course of the quarter, and the willingness to change jobs also on the candidate side remained low. The gross profit overall declined by 10% year-on-year. Quarter-on-quarter, it increased by 6.3%. Within the quarter, we saw a slower start in January than expected, but then a stabilized and solid situation in February and March. So in the full picture of the quarter, exactly what we expected. Diving in the 2 segments, and first some statements on the services, in staffing, temporary staffing, permanent placement and interim management. For all services, we still see the situation that the conversion, how inquiries or requests convert into actual hires and placements is subdued still. In temporary staffing, there is a cautious demand of many customers, and this still has a noticeable impact. At the beginning of the year, we regularly, in temporary staffing, see a setback because a lot of orders do end overproportionately at year-end every year. But afterwards, so that was, well, a normal setback what we saw. Afterwards, we saw a stable order development to date. And well, this is a different trend than what we saw for, well, around the last 2 years where we saw months on months declining development in the number of the overall orders. So here, it looks that it is bottoming out and stabilizing in permanent placement. Also, year-on-year, we see a decline still. Nevertheless, the quarter-on-quarter performance also for a couple of declines before, quarter-by-quarter, we saw an increase in revenues slightly above Q4 level. Here, specifically, we had a slow start in January and then a solid February and March. Interim management, our slowest -- sorry, our smallest service. Here the market is probably the most robust. We saw a small decline, but also a little bit like in temporary staffing, quite a stable development of the orders we have currently at the level of prior year at this moment. Some more detailed figures in staffing. So the gross profits overall in Q1 was around 19% down, around 6% higher than what we delivered in the fourth quarter. The last 2 years before, we saw a decline in gross profits, Q4 to Q1. So the first year now, we see an increase in gross profit here around year-end, Q4 to Q1. So also in staffing, there's still a strict management of all expenditures, OpEx and CapEx, in place, and a lot of work on productivity and cautious management of the branch office organization. Regarding our sales organization fee earners year-on-year, end of March, we are 17% down. So the trend, what we saw, that we cautiously replace fluctuation and monitor every position in detail is continuing. At the same time, we do some investments in systems and processes and in technology to, well, improve also step-by-step and use the opportunities we see in technology, in AI, also for staffing processes to position ourselves for the next years in the market. So overall in Q1, the EUR 5.2 million decline in gross profit translated in EUR 1.0 million decline in EBITA. So we saw an EBITA of EUR 1.7 million for the first quarter. So overall, in line with our expectation, stabilizing or bottoming out in top line and improving profitability quarter-by-quarter over the course of the year. Let's have a look at the training segment. Here, I would say we recorded a robust overall performance in Q1 '26. In the -- we saw -- if you look at the 3 different markets or client groups we serve, market-wise, we saw improved situation in B2G, a solid development within private customers. And also here, clearly, B2B services in Germany are under pressure. So the market environment for our B2B business in training also is not a good one. So in the B2C market, we saw actually in our business a slight increase. In B2G, we are still below prior year's level, which is because of the development throughout the year '25, where we saw a declining trend, but we have -- we are increasing the number of new participants, and there is a beginning dynamic development also compared to Q4 where sales are already increasing. So this, in the end, will translate in a positive top line development. In the B2B market, year-over-year, well, we have significant positive momentum due to inorganic growth. Masterplan and eduBITES joined our group end of last year. But overall, with our -- all our B2B services and training, we are operating, obviously, in the weak B2B environment we have in Germany. Strategically, segment development continued consistently throughout the quarter in line with the AI-first orientation we have. So the goal is to systematically expand the service portfolio with AI-related training offerings and to address the growing need for companies' systematic AI skilling development throughout our corporate AI learning approach we have. Some figures on training. So revenues increased by 3.4%. Nevertheless, it is a flat organic development and the growth is delivered by our new companies, Masterplan and eduBITES. We still see a declining volume at COMCAVE because after the development we saw especially in the first half year last year, the comparison year-on-year is still high. The trend also here is positive, but with the significant staff reduction we did and downsizing of the training facilities in the restructuring. We are now in a leaner company, which forms the base for back economic strength. And the Q1 results of COMCAVE are already above prior year's level. The new business entities, they started in line with our expectations. Regarding the revenues, I already stated that the growth we saw is delivered by these companies, some over EUR 2 million sales. And the result for the first quarter was as planned, a small negative figure. For the full year, we expect them to slightly deliver also a positive result. Operating profit fell by 0.7%. And overall, in EBITA, we ended up at EUR 1.3 million for the quarter. Because of the training calendar, the first quarter is not the strongest one in terms of seasonality. And if you would have a look at the organic development, it is a flat development year-over-year and an increasing development in terms of profitability compared to fourth quarter. Overall, in training, we ended slightly ahead of our own expectations for the first quarter in sales and in result. Some statements regarding our outlook overall. So the information you will find here is basically what is stated also in our annual report. So our picture about the framework and also some activities and milestones we take is unchanged. We are expecting or we set a framework also in our forecasting of a consistent weak year '26. Well, as I said, beginning of the year, we had some slight indicators of improvement. The current development in the Middle East took that out back again. And I think the assumption to see no real momentum in '26 is still an acceptable one. In case the sentiment will turn somewhere in '26, this, from our perspective, would be an upside. Further weakening, obviously a downside. So in staffing, we will continue with the cautious management, but also focus on improving the usage of technology, which is, for, well, some time, already crawling in, in our business, and step by step, we see some effects and improvements and quite like what we see. And in training, the focus here is to gain also from the opportunities we now have in our organization. As I said before, we did the 2 acquisitions. It's 2 buy-and-build cases. So beginning of the year, some integration work and some integration cost, as I mentioned, which you have to take. But the idea is here to use our good relationship with a lot of B2B clients around -- in Germany to deliver the full service of the Amadeus FiRe Group, which means that you can either hire qualifications or you can train qualifications. So here, it is starting that the, well, overall basket of services is served to our clients with some beginning success stories, but quite early to state on where this will end up end of the year. But we see some positive development in an overall weak B2B market, as I said a couple of times already in this call. But this is, I think, important to state that sales cycles, et cetera, are quite long these days in the B2B environment. And also in training, a solid B2C environment where we want to improve our business step by step again this year, and positive momentum we see in the B2G environment. And in the end, a year-over-year significant higher result in training compared to prior year's development where we actually were not able to deliver a result, what we expect from ourselves in the end, including a restructuring we had to start in second half year. This ends up in the outlook which we gave already. Publishing the annual report, it is unchanged. So we do see ourselves ending in a group revenue of, well, around EUR 380 million for the year and an operating EBITA of around EUR 25 million. So the range here is EUR 20 million to EUR 31 million, and following the Q1 compared to our planning and forecasting we did before, we are well in the middle of what we forecasted. In terms of the 2 segments, in staffing this year, given the assumption that '26 stays weak, it is about repeating the results of last year. And in training, it is about to significantly improve the earnings situation to, well, EUR 11 million to EUR 15 million or around EUR 13 million. And as I said, at least after Q1, we were a little bit ahead of the middle corridor we saw at the beginning of the year in forecasting for that segment. So for the moment, this would be it. A brief view in our development in Q1. Well, I know that year-on-year, the KPIs, sales and results declined, but we saw a year of -- with the downward trend in '25. So for us -- and this is what we said before -- in a year-on-year comparison, we will start slow in '26. But for us, the important, well, development and achievement is to improve the situation quarter-by-quarter, to have a solid start in '26, being able now to improve top and bottom line quarter by quarter over the course of the year. This would be it for the moment. And now very happy to answer your questions.

Thank you very much, Robert, for the deep insight into the first quarter. And I may give the word to Thomas Wissler for the first question.

I can't hear you, Thomas. I don't know whether we have to do anything, but...

I'm here, sorry.

Now we can hear you, Thomas. Okay.

Well, thanks for the presentation, first of all. And as you mentioned, the most important thing is that we have seen a sequential improvement because the year-on-year comparison that your numbers are down should be not a big surprise. Maybe you can give us some idea of the sentiment of your sales team and obviously also of your customers. Do you see kind of an improvement in the first quarter concerning the sentiment? And 2 months into the second quarter, can you maybe also give us some idea whether the situation has already also stabilized in the second quarter? And maybe the third question regarding leverage. Can we expect year-end leverage to be down versus 2025? Or would you also consider to spend more money on acquisitions if opportunities arise?

Well, Thomas, thanks. So first sentiment, you asked within our organization, our sales organization and clients. Well, here, I would say sentiment in our organization is -- I would call it somewhere in between acceptable and good. And I want to state that cautious because -- if you are a salesperson and you do less net fees, as we call it, and your incentivization is lower than it was -- you're used to, there is some feeling about that. Nevertheless, I do see and I realize that when I'm traveling around -- and in these times I do visit our branch offices more than I do in regular and good times, they are very positively Amadeus FiRe-minded, and they are positive regarding their market. But they are waiting for a turn in the sentiment of their clients. And this is what they do not see. This was the second part of your first question. Here, I have to state clearly -- and I talk to a lot of our salespeople -- that they feel that the cautious behavior, the restrictions clients have given their management to allow recruitment activities, no matter whether with providers like Amadeus FiRe or with their own recruiting resources. This is still slowed down and limited. Same on the candidate side. In tough times, you're more cautious regarding taking a decision to change jobs. So here, the environment is unchanged. Second question was how we entered second quarter. B2B, market-wise, well, solid and stable, but no momentum. Different statement I said about the B2G market where we are quite happy with the development, but B2B is still burdened by the overall environment. Leverage. As I said, earnings should improve over the course of the year. Deleveraging automatically, step-by-step on the one hand side. On the other hand side, you asked about capital allocation. Well, we did the 2 acquisitions end of last year, so I would call ourselves not hungry at the moment because we do have to do some integration. But even more, we said it's buy and build cases, and the build also takes some energy and resources. So this is what we want to do first. Nevertheless, we will have a close look at any opportunity. So acquisition-wise, you shouldn't expect too much of us this year. Hope that answers.

There are currently no questions in the chat, so I have to look back if someone raised the hand. No, it's currently not the case. There's a question from [ Olga Eichler ]. COMCAVE will start growing second half year-over-year, will be net income negative in first half?

Well, [ Olga ], I said that earnings increased already, but top line didn't. And here, it is our expectation for the full year is that we, well, should regain the level we entered last year over the course of the year. Will we exceed in sales? If this is the case, then in second half year. In terms of earnings, well, we are ahead of prior year already. And we want to deliver this year a clear positive result for COMCAVE following the negative result we saw in last year. And here, we are well on plan. Will be net income -- here it is -- not planned. So will be negative -- will be net income negative in first half year. Well, we saw earnings per share below 0 in first quarter. Second quarter, in terms of seasonality, has just a few chargeable days. Let's put it that way, the dynamic development in earnings per share I do expect in second half year.

Thank you, Robert. Some more questions from investors currently not to be seen. So if there will be some more questions later during the day, we are at your disposal at any time for your questions. Robert, thank you very much for the detailed view into the development of the first quarter and the outlook for the current year. And so next time, we'll be available with half-year figures beginning of August. So thank you very much all for your interest in Amadeus FiRe and thank you very much for joining the call.

Thanks, everybody. Bye.